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Sunday, 28 February 2010

The green shirt is now finished.
It has cuffs at the elbow which can be folded back (as shown) or worn down. Fabric ties inside on the right, and outside on the left hold it closed. I am really pleased how this has come out, and happy that I persevered to get a wearable garment, and not be put off by the problems I had to start with.

This now brings my stash sewing up to 20 metres (including the lime top) so I am well on course for my 40 metre total by the end of March.

Saturday, 27 February 2010

I've noticed a few of the very hip sewing blogs also feature nail polish of the day. I am vaguely interested in these and feel my blog is missing something.
So, for completeness I do wear polish on my finger nails everyday, and frankly feel wierd without it. I usually remove and redo it on a Sunday evening for the week and use, wait for it.....

Rimmel French Manicure in Cafe Au Lait - that's beige by the way in case you wondered.
I have had brief forays into coloured and sparkly polish but actually they don't feel like me and they usually only last one day before I have to remove the alien-ness.
Although this is supposed to be used for French manicures, with white tips and all, I don't bother with that. I just do a single coat and let it dry. I have warm toned skin and the beige polish somehow works better than clear or pale pink which look a bit girlish on me.

I do paint my toenails with strong colours, usually red or copper, although these can only be seen for a few months in the summer I paint them for my own happiness all year round. But I really don't think photos of feet is something we want on the blog.

On this basis, this is probably going to be my only post ever on nail polishes, but if you like coloured fingernails, go for it :-)

Well after a few modifications, here's where I have got to with the green print blouse.
The front wrap gaped, so I cut the finish off and gathered the front up and added a narrow band. This now fits better against the chest.
I have not yet added the collar stand and collar, or decided what I am doing about cuffs. I also need to make some new narrow tie ends for the ends of the bands to get tied to - currently pinned.

I think this fabric works well for the theme of 'Botanical Garden' so I am persevering with it.
This is based on a pattern in March 2010 Burda magazine - no 122.

Wednesday, 24 February 2010

Lime top is a wadder, or at least not wearable yet and I've tried a few things.
Work is mad again with work stuff cutting into every evening this week so far. Ah well I shall avoid working at the weekend if at all possible and maybe the sewing bug will strike.

Hope everyone else is managing to sew.

Burda Mag has not come yet but I liked these wrap blouses from the website.

Sunday, 21 February 2010

Well here's the almost done lime top and I think the neckline is too high/closed in.
I will try wearing it for a photo later on and see what I think. On the hanger it looks matronly.
I am expecting I will have to remove the neckband I've added and redo a lower/more open neckline to be more flattering and work better with the under bust seam.

I have now moved on from pink, and since I have two projects cut out I need to sew at least one of them to avoid getting a big UFO pile. So I have rethreaded my machines in pale green (the nearest I could buy to the lime coloured fabric for some reason) to work on a knit top.

The pattern I am going to use is Simplicity 3837. I'm leaving off the bust overlay thingy and having 3/4 sleeves. I might add cuffs to them actually otherwise they ride up when you add another layer on the top. I am into cuffs on knit tops at the moment for some reason that might be to do with it snowing again.

Saturday, 20 February 2010

During February I've bought about 37 metres of fabric. That's quite a lot. Its all stuff I will use, but in the interests of stash parity and also making room in the fabric cupboard, I am hoping to sew up a similar amount during the stash contest on Pattern review which is on for the months of February and March.

So far I have sewn 7 items and used 14.5 metres, during 3 of the 8 weeks of the contest. At that rate I should manage about 38 metres by the end of the contest, and my target is somewhere in the 37-40 metres range.
As a garment averages about 2 metres per item I need to complete another 13 garments which is a tall order for a 5 week period, and comes down to 3 items a week.

I am trying to keep to only sewing garments for myself and not hare off doing curtains, bedding etc. In particular I would like to sew as many things as is feasible from stash which also fit in with the two SWAP Plans I have going. Nothing like making life demanding :-)
(I have no plans to win the contest, just to meet my personal targets).

The seven pink tops I have sewed during the last 3 weeks. I think I might have taken the sewing things with the same colour thread about as far as is sensible on this one. I am now going to change to LIME.

Here's my final pink item, a 'Remnants' top made from 3 different fabrics and based on the Jalie crossover top.

The front and sleeves are left from one project, the back from another (almost identical in colour) and the print fabric for the wrap from a project done in my plus size days.

This is the end of the pink run, and I will have to have a think what do sew next. I do however have a lime green knit top cut out and a gold crinkle wrap blouse. I think the lime top is most likely to be done next.
I have enjoyed the pink.

Thursday, 18 February 2010

I decided to use some coral pink stretch lace from the stash.
Its lined with the coral pink knit left over from the cosy wrap through the body but has sheer sleeves.
Here it is so far, hopefully will get finished over the weekend.

Sunday, 14 February 2010

Slightly ironically, since I have bought a lot of fabric on the last two weekends, I am participating in the Pattern Review Stash Contest.

Here is another items make from stash, as you can see I am still sewing hot pink.
This one is from the Simplicity 4076 pattern, adapted a little.
This also works with my Botanical Garden SWAP, though it may not make the final cut as there area lot of pink tops.

I bought 23.5 metres last weekend and another 15.5 today, a total of around 39 metres.
So I think my goal during the stash contest is to sew about the same, and retain stash parity, though I think even for me that's a tall order, unless I make tablecloths, curtains or duvet covers. At my usual 1.5 to 2m per garment that would be something between 20 and 26 garments, of which I have managed 4 so far totalling 8 metres.

otallyFabrics.co.uk were having a Valentine's day half price sale, and my previous order from them was very good, so I decided to see what they had in knits, as these are hard to get locally.
I found quite a few I liked in the Lycra knits section and have ordered as below. Interestingly except for one in teal/lime the others would all fit with a red/white/black theme which could be my next wardrobe collection.

I decided I will just sew up variations on my personal style which is mostly knit top in print or colour with stripe pants and a jacket or cardigan, and just occasionally push the boat out a little for something a little further from my normal look.

Here are the fabrics I have ordered, though it will be a few days before they arrive I should think.

Saturday, 13 February 2010

I finally got around to taking photos of the new fabrics I bought last Saturday.

1 - Chartreuse silk. Only 75cm of this, but I would love a little woven top of some sort from it.

2 - Ivory and black print knit. The art deco style print appears twice on the fabric, I am showing the part with a fault. With careful cutting this could be a great knit top. I could always use plain black bands if having trouble.

3 - Linings. Nice feel so I think rayon/viscose rather than poly. Dark brown, copper red and mid brown with stripes. These will make wonderful trouser linings.

4 - Navy striped fabric. A dark navy, heavy and beautifully soft, I have enough for a work dress or several pairs of pants!

5 - Striped trouser fabrics. The top two are dark olive, and brown, The bottom ones both black with brown stripes. Each of these is enough for a pair of trousers.

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

More fabric for another all pink top - some sort of scoop neck style I think, and then I plan to make a top with all the leftovers from the various projects. In pink, pink/ivory print, ivory and olive. Something interesting to wear with jeans.

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

I have started a Jalie crossover top in warm pink (same as the cowl neck top).
Hopefully I will finihs that tomorrow evening.

I also succumbed to a new pair of flat Black Duo boots (the old ones were too large when I lost weight). the ones I have bought are the Volterra.Duo Boots: Volterra Black
Hopefully this will help me wear some of my skirts and dresses a bit more over the next couple of months

Also i thought you might like a link to HowToLookGood.com as they have the new Spring fashion trends up.

Sunday, 7 February 2010

I cut and sewed up this Coral Pink Cowl Neck Top today.
Its a wonderfully bright and happy Spring colour I am very pleased with it.
This is part of the Botanical Garden collection. It uses a modified version of the HotPatterns Cowl Neck Top pattern.

Saturday, 6 February 2010

Today I went to the nearest fabric store which is about 15 miles away and had a good rummage.
Underneath one of the sections of furnishing fabrics I found a whole load of suiting and linings. All really nice quality, some seemed to be factory samples, others perhaps from a closed tailors shop. None of them were on bolts and they were many of them only 1.5 - 2m pieces.
The shop owner decided to charge me £1 per metre for these so in the end I came away with 23 metres of fabric. I suppose I ought to know better really as I have quite a good stash and am participating in the PR Stash contest at the moment, although the only garment I have made is the coral pink cosy on the previous post.

Today's purchases
75cm of chartreuse (yellow/green) slubbed silk (50p)
4m of mid brown striped lining (£4.00)
2m of dark brown lining (diamond weave pattern) (£2.00)
2.5m of coppery brown lining (£2.50)
2m of dark brown pinstripe suiting (£2.00)
1.5m of black stripe suiting (£1.50)
2.5m of black stripe suiting (£2.50)
5m of dark navy suiting with darker and lighter stripes - v drapey, could be made into a work wrap dress or similar (£5.00)
3m of olive finely striped suiting (£3.00)
and 1.5m of ivory knit with black print (slightly art nouveau) (£1.50)
this has a fault which I will have to be careful how I cut out and layout to miss the fault and work the print with the garment.

P.S. Absolutely agree with Heather, in some cases this is a boring looking haul - nice linings, classic suitings, one print knit, but its all stuff that can be sewn up and worn in my everyday life. I love striped trousers.
I would like a little top/jacket out of the chartreuse silk, but not sure if there is enough of it.

P.P.S. Jenny the shop is very hit and miss. This was a hit obviously, but sometimes its all just polyester nonsense. Lots of things are not priced, and it depends which person serves you as to the prices. I saw the owner, and he obviously wanted me to buy this stuff he thought would be hard to shift. They buy up rollends from manufacturers, and stuff from closed businesses and sell it cheaply, but its really variable. Normally the only have poly lining at £2.50 p metre and poly satin for bridesmaids dresses and fleece. Plus lots of home dec. I bought really nice knits there last year but never seen them again - so another one off.
It is T.P. Textiles in Warrington, Cheshire.

Monday, 1 February 2010

I'm not normally a pink person. I know some women love pink, and embrace it in all its girliness, but I don't like it becuase of being girly and also becuase cool pinks make me look really ill. Coral pink however, as long as its strongly pigmented enough, is actually a good colour for me, and I have just switched to having a pink phase :-)
You know how it is once the serger and sewing machine are threaded you are reluctant to change them - so expect a few more pink pieces before I get pinked out.

I think the pink is reaction to sewing lots of sensible olive and ivory, and wanting something which said 'Spring' even though it is icy. Anyway this top is a pink flower in the Botanical garden :D